463 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July ft 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S RARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert w. Colling wood, Editor. 
Dk. Walter Van Fleet. 
Mbs. E. T. Hoyle, 
I 
f 
Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to Ss. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 1U!4 francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will make good any loss to paid subscribers 
sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 
in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we 
do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences between 
subscribers and honest responsible advertisers. Neither 
will we be responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts 
sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint must 
be sent us within one month of the time of the trans¬ 
action, and you must have mentioned The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
farmers have kept their men through the Winter at 
a loss rather than turn them adrift. 
* 
The question as to the wisdom of setting root- 
grafts in the field where the orchard is to grow is 
discussed on our first page. We do not care so much 
for opinions as for actual experience. If anyone has 
actually started a successful orchard in that way we 
shall be pleased to hear from him. There seems to 
be no good reason why tjie root-graft should not make 
as good growth in the field as in the nursery row pro¬ 
vided it receives as good care. There is the keynote 
of the matter, as some of our correspondents point 
out When in the nursery the graft or little tree is 
more likely to be kept clean and thrifty than when 
the grafts are set 30 feet or more apart, so that a long 
journey must be made to hoe them. From our ex¬ 
perience we should say that a good mulch of manure 
around the grafts would keep them in fair condition 
and prevent the need of so much hoeing. 
* 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance 
is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1902. 
The daily papers print the great stories about farm 
laborers in Kansas. We are told how farmers held up 
a train with shotguns and made 40 tramps go to work 
in the wheat fields. One great trouble with Kansas 
is that the public liar seems to love her. These things 
do not happen in Kansas any more than they do in 
New Jersey or Massachusetts. 
* 
Most revolting stories are told of child labor em¬ 
ployed in southern cotton mills. If these stories are 
true those who wear the cloth from these mills are 
paying a devil’s price for tender flesh and bloou. We 
have as yet seen no serious effort to deny the stories. 
They should either be branded as false at once or re¬ 
told until the awful business is abolished forever. 
* 
Apple buyers are already abroad after bargains. 
What of the crop? Some of these gentlemen have 
started out to talk “big crop” so as to obtain low 
figures on apples, but the facts do not warrant it yet 
by any means. It is too early more than to guess at 
the amount of fine fruit which the orchards will bear. 
Taking the country at large our guess is for about 75 
per cent of a full apple crop. 
* 
Ox page 462 Mr. Rines speaks of what he is able to 
do with his horse. It is remarkable what a man can 
do with an intelligent horse when he can have him 
alone on the farm. Under such conditions the 
horse seems to adapt himself to circumstances, and 
actually seems to feel a personal interest in the work. 
Talk of the love of the Arab for his steed—it doesn’t 
compare with the affection of the “one-man farmer” 
for the faithful animal that pulls him through. 
* 
We selected at random names of 75 former mem¬ 
bers of the Five States Milk Producers’ Association 
and asked them to give us the cost of keeping one 
cow and the average yield in milk! Thus far not one 
has been able to give exact figures. But how about 
the beam in your own eye? Can you give the cost of 
a quart of milk? No! The best we can do is to give 
the cash paid for grain. The fodder, pasture and hay 
are not reduced to a cash basis. The difference be¬ 
tween receipts for milk and grain bills represents 
part of the price paid for our labor! 
* 
Reports come from Illinois of a so-called Farm 
Hands’ Union in a locality on the Mississippi River. 
One of the organizers is reported to have made this 
statement: 
The present wage of the harvest hands is $1.75 a day. 
We will demand $2. The hours, too, must be shorter, 10 
hours being the time that is most in favor by the men. 
We shall not attempt to set the time when work begins, 
but we shall maintain that a man cannot be worked 
longer than 10 hours unless he is paid at the rate of time 
and one-half. Each man will be given a working card 
and a walking delegate will be allotted to oversee two 
farms to see that the rules of the union are observed. 
Any farmer violating the rules will be fined, and, unless 
it is paid within 48 hours, the men will be ordered to 
stop work. 
Efforts have been made before now to organize farm 
hands in this way, but generally without success. As 
a rule, farm hancte are well treated and have a fair 
chance. There is less reason for their organizing 
than for other classes of workmen to form unions. 
Possioly in harvest time the walking delegate men¬ 
tioned above might keep busy, but in ordinary farm¬ 
ing there would be no use for him. Again and again 
We again call attention to the fact that the word 
“agricultural” seems quite offensive to the students 
at some of the land grant colleges. They seem to be 
desperately afraid that people will actually class them 
as fanners. What then do they want their institution 
called? “State College” has been suggested and also 
“College of Applied Science!” It seems to be any¬ 
thing to rub out the stain of that terrible word “agri¬ 
cultural.” We cannot believe that any large number 
of actual farm students desire the change. We judge 
it to be the students who take the “mechanical” 
courses or the noisy minority who consider “applied 
science” better than “agriculture.” The trouble with 
most of such fellows dates back to childhood, when 
they lacked the civilizing influence of a shingle ap¬ 
plied with science! What will agriculture come to if 
those who are supposed to be its trained men adver¬ 
tise the fact that they are ashamed or its name? 
* 
AMERICAN APPLE CONSUMERS’ LEAGUE. 
ITS OBJECT. 
To make apple eating fashionable. Business in 
other lines of production has been doubled by con¬ 
vincing the public that it is the proper thing to wear 
or use a certain article. There are 40,000,000 Ameri¬ 
cans living in town and city. Educate them so that 
they will eat two apples each every day and you do 
more for practical agriculture than can be done in 
any other way. 
LEND US YOUR TONGUE! 
The League Pledge. 
I agree to call for apple in some form whenever I 
eat a meal at any public table. Should apple not be 
named on the bill of fare I will ask why not, and en¬ 
deavor to secure the serving of good eating apples. 1 
will also encourage apple eating in my own family. 
It Costs You Nothing but a Little Tongue Service. 
The League has already induced a number of first- 
class hotels and restaurants to make a feature of 
good apples. 
* 
It is now understood that the little tubercles or 
nodules which are found on the roots of clover, peas, 
beans and other leguminous plants are of great im¬ 
portance to agriculture. They are really the factories 
or houses in which the tiny bacteria do their wonder¬ 
ful work of storing nitrogen from the air. They were, 
of course, known for a long time, but for years their 
nature was so little understood that they were looked 
upon as a type of disease. Only by the most patient 
and careful study were the scientific men able to find 
out their true character. In fact, many things con¬ 
nected with the work they do are not clearly under¬ 
stood. The practical man will sometimes ask: “Why 
spend time and money in studying such things? What 
do they amount to? We have known for years that 
clover enriches the soil. In what way will it benefit 
us to spend so much time in studying why and how it 
does its work?” We have no doubt that these ques¬ 
tions have occurred to thousands of our readers— 
some of whom have without knowing it been helped 
by the scientific work which they criticise. Many an¬ 
swers might be given, but the best one is the fact that 
is clear to all, that knowledge always increases power. 
It will be clear to the humblest worker that he ac¬ 
complishes more and better work the more thorough¬ 
ly he masters the principles which underlie his job. 
Some men will handle an ax, a shovel or a hoe with 
mere brute force while others study the work of their 
muscles and learn how to do more work with less 
fatigue. One might say that the work done in study¬ 
ing how the cow produces milk from her food was 
thrown away, but those who have seen breeds of cows 
or individuals sAowly but surely improve and cheapen 
the pound of butter or the quart of milk, know better. 
It must be evident to a thoughtful mind that in the 
bacteria which take nitrogen out of the air for us we 
have helpful farm servants. How can any servant be 
trained or directed until its habits are known? 
* 
It is reported that our old friend the lightning rod 
agent is again abroad. New York farmers report 
him. His stories and promises are larger than ever, 
while the chances for getting the better of him are 
smaller. The latest game is to “absolutely guarantee” 
your house against lightning! Metal rods well placed 
on a house will certainly afford protection, but unless 
they are well placed and properly grounded they in¬ 
vite disaster rather than carry it away. We should 
certainly not give the job of “rodding” a house to 
some long-winded stranger who can have no personal 
Interest in it. A man may be honest as a lightning 
rod agent, but he has an awful reputation to live 
down. 
• 
The Niagara Co. (N. Y.) Farmers’ Club recently 
visited Cornell and Geneva in a body. They looked 
over the College and stations, and also saw some of 
the great fruit farms of the State. Such trips are 
helpful to the farmers and to the scientific men as 
well. The two classes are brought together, and are 
better able to understand each other. Something of 
the wonderful resources of western New York may be 
learned from the article printed in this issue and the 
previous one. There you have a section where farm¬ 
ing is the chief industry. Country people over there 
do not spend their time trying to rub out the word 
“farmer.” They are proud of it, and that very pride 
is one of the most valuable assets in their business. 
* 
Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, before the law 
school at Yale University, took a dismal view of the 
movement to bring about the election of United 
States Senators by popular vote. 
If successful It will inevitably be followed by propor¬ 
tional representation in the Senate. We alone among 
the nations possessing representative governments have 
solved the problem of an upper house resting upon an 
independent basis and effective in legislation. If the Sen¬ 
ate is placed upon the same basis as the House and Is 
chosen in the same way b^ the same constituency, its 
character and meaning depart. The States will be hope¬ 
lessly weakened, the balance of the Constitution will be 
destroyed, centralization will advance witn giant strides 
and we shall enter upon a period of Constitutional revo¬ 
lution of which the end cannot be foretold. 
We call this crossing a bridge long before it comes 
in sight, yet it is probably the best argument that can 
he made for the present method of electing Senators. 
There seems to be little real opposition to the pro¬ 
posed change except among the Senators themselves. 
In all seriousness it can hardly be claimed that as at 
present made up the United States Senate presents a 
striking array of statesmen. Are not the majority of 
the Senators most noted for their ability as politicians 
or as business men? Would popular election give a 
higher type of State representative? We can name 
a. least half a dozen present Senators who would be 
buried out of sight were they to run on a popular 
ticket! We believe that the men elected at a popular 
election would be closer to the common people, and 
far more likely to serve their best interests. The 
chief criticism made against the present Senate is 
that having no direct responsibility to the people it 
has naturally grown away from them! We must not 
forget that this country is still supposed to be a 
Republic! 
* 
BREVITIES. 
When you make a guess—confess. 
Who wouldn’t bridle when saddled with somi surplus 
job? 
The man with the yardstick is no better than the man 
with the hoe. 
The American manufacturers of farm tools turned out 
during the last census year, implements to the value of 
$101,207,428. 
Will those who have tried the Clark method of seeding 
to grass report progress? What yield? Did the extra 
tillage pay? 
The latest scheme of the oleo men is said to be fur¬ 
nishing coloring matter “on the side.” With every pack¬ 
age of uncolored oleo you get a capsule of color which 
you may mix in if you like. That is what we call en¬ 
forced honesty. 
Several years ago a plan for a pneumatic system of 
waterworks was suggested. Compressed air was forced 
into a tank with water, and this power was supposed to 
force the water wherever desired. Who can tell what 
became of the plan? 
The Paris Academy of Medicine has been devoting a 
session to the study of dangerous drinks. It has decided 
that the American mixed drinks are more poisonous 
than any others analyzed, the cocktail being the most 
pernicious. A majority of the liquors examined were 
loaded with noxious adulterants. 
